Silence on the Stable Grounds
by Swagnarok
Summary: Is Teitan Elementary's new school nurse growing marijuana? That's the question Conan and Nancy set out to answer. But things turn out to be a whole lot more complicated than that. Episodes 974-975.
1. Chapter 1

_Recently I went to the movies. I'm not gonna bore you with the name of the movie, what it was about, the small minute details of it, or that one scene that made me laugh._

 _Instead, what I'd like to bring up is the characters. On some level, at least, I identified and sympathized with the men and women on the screen: their happy moments, their times of sorrow, their dilemmas, and their difficulties in associating with one another._ _It was compelling enough that as I was watching, I forgot that the people on the screen were actors, or, that is to say, people who pretend for a living._

 _By that definition, I was once an actor too. I pretended, not to make money but because I was expected to, because me pretending was perhaps the only thing keeping my sanity intact._

 _I went with my friends to the mall. I enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere, the diverse array of places to shop, the delicious foreign food and the gorgeous outfits that we could spend our money on from time to time. We would hang out outdoors; I liked the breeze that made my hair flap around. In the late autumn, I would go outdoors in sandals and experience the coolness on my feet._

 _When I went to bed at night, I had a soft mattress beneath me, blanks covering me, c_ _omfortable pajamas, and a ceiling fan above my head for the summertime. I had a phone, and sometimes I would sit down and watch the evening news with my dad. Just like I had always done._

 _On the evening news men, and occasionally women, were arrested for heinous crimes. Murder. Rape. Possession of child pornography. Whatever the crime, we the public could rest assured that the perpetrators would be punished._

 _They would be thrown in a dimly lit concrete box, from which they'd only be let out a few hours every day. They were given terrible food, and they had to wear ugly orange suits. Their lives were in near-constant danger because of the other prisoners. The guards treated them as less than human, as did society. Unlike humans, these criminals did not have rights. They were like animals in cages: whatever little they were given was an expression of the state's benevolence and mercy. And like animals, from time to time the state saw fit to put them out of their misery. They were shot, hung, electrocuted, or injected with poison._

 _When I thought about what those men had to go through, I thought of all the privileges I enjoyed in life. And I thought to myself, it's not fair._

 _Because I'm no different from them. A long time ago, I drove a girl to kill herself. I am a murderer. I am a bad person, and the society I grew up in needed protecting from me._

 _But instead, I lived a double life, as an actor who had no break. I went to parties. Danced with boys. Attended high school. My mother and father had such high hopes for me. I told them I wanted to be a doctor._

 _But one day, the time came when I couldn't pretend any longer. Something inside was tearing at me. It had been doing so for a long time, but for whatever reason, that feeling suddenly got worse. And worse still. And soon I realized that I was trapped in a nightmare._

 _And that caused me to snap, at long last. I cut myself off from my old friends and family, and gave myself the punishment that was long overdue. I traded physical pain for peace of mind._

 _And at some point, I came to believe in a dichotomy: pretty people are shallow. They've got ugly souls. I wanted a clean, respectable soul. A beautiful soul. And to this end, my body was a tool. I desecrated it, poisoned it, until one day I looked in the mirror was satisfied with the fruit of my labors._

 _I would live the rest of my life as an ugly hag. I could live with myself like this, the way she would've lived, surely._ _After a while, I just got used to it._

 _And then, I came to find joy in it. Immense joy. I am happy now, more so than I've ever been. I am surrounded by people I care about, and I know that they care about me. I even became a doctor, as I had once planned._

 _Am I fooling myself? Am I just pretending once more? No, it doesn't feel that way. But if I really am happy now, then that raises the question:_

 _Do I deserve it?_

 **Scene Transition**

Kobayashi- _sensei_ wrote a phrase on the board:

Civic Virtue

"Can anybody define this term?" Kobayashi asked.

There was an eerie silence.

"Conan-kun?" Kobayashi asked. "Do you know?"

He stood up and cleared his throat. "Civic Virtue is the meeting or exceedance of the obligations an individual has to his community and his country."

"Nerd," he could hear somebody muttering.

Why's she always have to call on me? Conan thought with an exasperated deadpan look, sitting down.

"And why does civic duty exist?" Kobayashi asked. "I'll call on someone else this time...uh, how about Ayumi- _chan_...huh? She's not here?"

Indeed: Ayumi had apparently skipped school that day.

She noticed that Mitsuhiko had his hand raised. "Yes? Would you like to answer the question?"

Mitsuhiko stood up. "We all benefit from modern society, so we should all give back to it however we can, if only so that it isn't replaced by something worse."

"There are different ways that we participate in civic virtue," Kobayashi said. "Adults participate in our democratic institutions by voting. They pay taxes for the upkeep of our police, our roads and bridges, the army that protects us...and of course, the school building you're all sitting in right now. Sitting and learning, I would hope."

That elicited a few giggles.

"Nobody chose to born into modern society," Kobayashi said. "However, nobody has a right to deny that they have responsibilities towards their communities, because nobody eschews the benefits that come with being a part of such."

Genta raised his hand. "Eschew? Is that a kind of noodle?"

"No," Kobayashi said bluntly. "Anyways, this arrangement, called the Social Contract, was first explored in length by European philosophers, such as John Locke."

A girl raised her hand. "John Locke? Wasn't he that bald guy on the island?"

"Uhh, well, England is an island, yes," Kobayashi said. "I don't think that he was bal-"

There was a screeching, staticky noise coming from the loudspeaker. And then:

"Conan Edogawa, please report to the nurse's office. I repeat, Conan Edogawa, please report to the nurse's office."

"Huuh?"

 **Opening**

(Cup of Trembling by B'z)

(Each fresh breath of life is a fresh chance to start anew! A sudden trip to the nurse's office at Teitan Elementary piques my curiosity! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is...DETECTIVE CONAN!)

Above all, I'm afraid of you seeing me like this

The youthful vigor sapped from my bones

Too afraid to proceed, too afraid to turn back

A wretch, recoiling from my own shadow

Wallowing in self-pity like a pig wallowing in its crap

I can't check my phone, lest you might try to call

I can't live at home, lest you might try to visit

All I have left is the clothes on my back and

That dreaded bottle, whose contents I dare not drink

Oh I'm going nowhere, a pinwheel spinning in circles

This Cup of Trembling I now raise to my lips and swallow

So I may face the demons haunting my restless nights

I can't show my face to you until I can call myself a man

Until I've walked a full moon carrying my cross

 **Silence on the Stable Grounds! Part One!**

Conan slid the door open.

Hmm? he thought. That isn't-

"Ah, you must be Conan-kun!" the woman waiting for him said. "If you're looking for the old nurse, she...retired very recently, and I'm her new replacement. You can call me Namiki- _sensei_."

"Namiki- _sensei_ " was shockingly young, around 25 or so at the most. Her hair was braided and parted to the side. She was wearing a blue gown with a floral pattern on it.

Her most immediately striking feature, however, was her enormous size. She was a very heavy woman, to put it politely.

"Uh, hi," Conan said awkwardly. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Have a seat, please. Up here."

Conan climbed up onto the exam table and sat down.

"So, I hear you suffered a seizure recently?" Namiki-sensei asked.

Conan nodded. "It was during a vacation to the Ogasawara Islands. After getting back I saw a doctor for it, and an MRI revealed nothing wrong with my brain physically."

"Hmm. You've had any more seizures since then?"

"No ma'am," Conan said. "I believe it was triggered by environmental factors which aren't present in the city of Tokyo."

"And what leads you to believe that?" Namiki-sensei asked.

"I just know," Conan said.

Well, it's not like I can tell her about a repressed memory from ten years ago, he thought.

"Um, okay. If you ever have another seizure, I've got something that might help with that."

"And what would that be?" Conan asked, maybe a little more rudely than he intended.

"It's a product made from a plant called _cannabis_ in botanical language."

"HEEEEHH?!" Conan exclaimed, climbing down and standing up abruptly. "Are you talking about marijuana?!"

Namiki-sensei grinned. "Maybe. Maybe not. School isn't really the place to be discussing this matter. Come visit me at my home after school lets out if you wanna learn more about it."

She wrote down her name and address on a slip of paper and handed it to the boy.

"Hold on to this just in case you're interested," she said with a wink. "Alright, you can head back to class now."

 **Scene Transition**

"You sure you want to do this?" Nancy asked as they walked home.

Conan sighed. "Yeah. If there's any chance that the new school nurse is involved in the cultivation of marijuana, it's my duty as a detective to check it out."

Nancy stopped walking. "You know what? I think I'll come with you this time."

"You got money for bus fare?"

"Yeah."

They went to the nearest bus stop and sat down.

 **Scene Transition**

The bus driver pressed on the brakes.

"Thank you," Conan and Nancy said, and they both got off.

After asking some locals for directions, they found themselves standing in front of the gated property whose address matched that on the slip of paper.

It was apparently some kind of dojo. A wooden dojo sign was in place; it read, in Kana characters, from top to bottom:

 _Musabetsu Kakuto_ - _beya_

Or, in English, Stable of Indiscriminate Grappling.

(Author's Note: In Japanese the word for stable, which is pronounced as _heya_ , can refer also to a facility in which professional Sumo Wrestlers live and train.)

"So that means this place is a-

The wooden gate swung open.

"You came," Namiki-sensei said with a grin.

Then she saw Nancy. "And you are...?"

"I hope you don't mind me bringing a friend," Conan said apologetically.

"Hi, my name is Nancy."

"Hmm, so neither of you have Japanese first names?" Namiki-sensei mused. "Are you brother and sister, by any chance?"

"Uhh, no ma'am," Nancy said. "We do live in the same house though...and we even share a bedroom."

Conan was evidently flustered by that last part.

"Ohhh, you sly dog, you," Namiki-sensei said to him teasingly. "Please, come in. Make yourselves at home."

They walked past the gate and onto the grounds of the stable.

 **Scene Transition**

Having sat in the teacher's lounge for nearly an hour, Torishima folded the last of the papers and stood.

After a long day, he could finally-

"Hello."

There was a woman standing at the entrance.

A foreigner for sure, he thought. "Um, hello? Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yes," she said, approaching him. "My name is Jodie Saintemillion. I'm the legal guardian of one of your students."

"Oh? Is that so? It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma'am."

"Likewise. Do you know which student I'm talking about?"

"Not really, but I think I can guess," Torishima said. "Kind of tan, with light hair? His name is...Shiro, am I right?"

Jodie nodded. "How is he?"

"Hmm?"

"Is he behaving himself?" Jodie asked. "He hasn't gotten into any mischief, has he?"

Torishima shook his head. "No, he's been no trouble at all. In fact, PE is very much his kind of thing. He's easily the fastest runner in the class...it's almost as if, in some other life, he was a famous soccer player or something. Crazy, right?"

Jodie's stomach muscles tightened. Fortunately, her facial expression didn't change.

"Why are you here?" she demanded.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Why are you stuck teaching PE to a bunch of elementary schoolers? A man like you, you could be doing something a lot more lucrative and prestigious than this, surely."

"One could say I was called here," Torishima said. "Not too long ago, when I was in a bind, somebody approached me and made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"And what does that mean?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but that's all I'm at liberty to say. Be rest assured, Shiro is in good hands. And from what I've seen of him, you've been an excellent surrogate mother. My hat off to you for that. If I was wearing one, that is. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bottle of Cola with my name on it waiting in my fridge."

"Cola?" Jodie repeated.

"Oh yes. I had it imported in bulk from Mexico. It's sweetened with agave instead of sugar or corn syrup. It's quite different from the Cola you're used to, I'll bet. Well, bye."

 **Scene Transition**

They slid open the door and stepped inside the dojo entrance hallway.

The floors, walls, and ceiling were wooden and in traditional Japanese style. At the entrance was a replica suit of old samurai armor, and several photos on the wall.

"What is this place?" Nancy asked.

"EEEEHHH?!" Conan said, looking at the photos on the wall. "Isn't that Hasunuma Takanori?"

"Who?" Nancy repeated.

"He's a famous Yokozuna," Conan said.

(Author's Note: Yokozuna is a title afforded to a person who has achieved the highest rank in professional Sumo.)

"Correction: I was."

Hasunuma Takanori, age 33, had come to address the unexpected visitors. Like Namiki, he was morbidly obese. But then again, seeing as how he was a sumo wrestler that shouldn't have been too surprising.

Conan's mouth just hung there. One of the great Sumo legends of the 21st century, just casually standing there in a kimono.

"Now I'm just a has-been who dreams of old glory," Takanori said.

"Don't talk like that," Namiki said. "Founding your own stable is a greater feat than being out in the ring. If anything, you're at the pinnacle of your career right now."

"By the way, who're the guests?" Takanori asked. "They relatives of yours or something?"

"Uh, no, they're students at the school where I got that new job," Namiki said. "They're interested in seeing my garden."

"What? Don't tell me you're passing that snake oil onto kids now."

"Hmph, you didn't call it snake oil back when it treated you for-

"*ahem* Are you really going to bring up that matter around our guests?"

"Right, sorry. Are they still napping?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I pushed them pretty hard today. I guess I'd better be getting them up about now."

"Um, excuse me, Nancy said. "Do the two of you have kids?"

"Huh? What? Goodness no!" Namiki protested.

"We aren't married," Takanori said. "I was talking about the boys who belong to our stable."

Five wrestlers belonged to the Musabetsu Kakuto Stable. At that time, all of them were fast asleep in the one room that they shared after having gotten up at 5:00 AM, started training at 5:30, and didn't break until 11:00 for lunch.

"So, uh, anyways, you said you were gonna take them out to the garden?" Takanori asked.

"Right, that," Namiki said. "I came inside to offer them some of our homemade mochi. If you two'll just give me a minute..."

She headed towards the kitchen and opened the fridge. Meanwhile, Takanori went to wake his boys up.

 **Scene Transition**

In the front yard of the fenced property was a small rectangular metal shed.

Namiki opened the door and they entered.

There was a UV light overhead and a bunch of plants contained within orange buckets filled with soil.

"Hold on," Nancy said, her mouth full of mochi. "Isn't that-"

"Yup, cannabis, from which the illegal drug called marijuana is harvested," Namiki said.

Conan took a close-up look at the plants.

"B-but why would you show us this?!" Nancy exclaimed. "Could you really trust us not to-"

"She has nothing to hide," Conan said.

"Huh?"

"This plant is indeed cannabis," Conan said. " _Cannabis Sativa_ , to be precise. However, there are multiple varieties of this species. One such variety is what we refer to as hemp. Am I right?"

"Yes, I'm very impressed with how much you know," Namiki said. "Hemp has been used for thousands of years to make clothes and rope. It was one of the first natural fibers discovered by man. However, you can't grow marijuana from it."

"The active ingredient in marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC," Conan said. "That's what gives it its psychoactive properties, the 'high' that comes from smoking it. However, hemp is a variety of cannabis which has extremely low THC content. This is often by design: in Canada, for example, for a plant to be considered hemp, which is legal, and not marijuana, which is illegal, it must have no higher than 0.3% THC content. In short, you would have to smoke or ingest very large quantities of it to get high. I doubt that all the hemp grown in this shed would even be enough for one time.

"So you can just tell the difference right off the bat?" Nancy asked.

"If you mean to ask whether or not I can spot the difference in appearance between hemp and marijuana, the answer's no," Conan admitted. "However, there's some telltale signs. First of all, these plants seem to be spaced about 3/4s of a foot apart from each other. Marijuana requires much more specific growing conditions than hemp, including much more space in between plants in order for them to grow healthily."

"Yeah, but she might've chosen to prioritize quantity over quality," Nancy said.

"Ah, but there's another sign," Conan said. "In this batch, some of the plants are female, but others are male. That's something marijuana farmers try to avoid at all costs: only female plants can produce buds, which is the part of the plant that's usually smoked. But if the female plants are pollinated by the males, they'll produce buds with seeds. That end product has much lower THC content than would otherwise be the case."

"But she's growing it in a shed instead of an outside garden!" Nancy said. "You yourself just said that marijuana needs a controlled growing environment, whereas hemp doesn't."

"Yes, but you're forgetting something," Namiki said. "This stable does get visitors from time to time. It would be very easy for them to see my plants and jump to wrong conclusions. That's why I've grown them in here."

"Okay," Nancy said. "But why do you need to grow hemp? Is all this really just to save a little money on clothes?"

"There is another active ingredient in marijuana," Conan said. "Cannabidiol, or CBD. It doesn't cause you to get high; rather, it can actually be used to cure a number of ailments, such as seizures and possibly ADHD. Hemp has very low THC content, but its seeds are rich in CBD when converted into an oil and ingested. Demand for Hemp Oil has grown tremendously in the past few years; a fairly small bottle of Hemp Oil capsules can sell for a lot of money."

"At this time, it's marketed as a miracle drug," Namiki said. "And it's easy to see why: In 2013, the story broke in the American press that a girl named Charlotte Figi, who suffered from hundreds of seizures a week, had been effectively cured through the use of medical marijuana."

"And thus, you thought that you could help me with your homegrown Hemp Oil," Conan finished.

Namiki nodded. "Are you sure that you don't want it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"So just to be clear," Nancy said. "She grows this stuff for the seeds, which she turns into medicine, and then she sells it?"

"Yup, that's the gist of it," Namiki said. "I hope to lower the market price for this stuff, so that it's more readily accessible to people who need it. That's my dream. That's what I'm doing here. I've been lucky that Taka...uh, that is, Hasunuma-san, has been supportive enough to let me keep this shed here."

She turned to the two of them. "Are you glad you came?"

They both nodded enthusiastically.

 **Scene Transition**

They stayed a little while longer. The five sumo wrestlers were woken and started on their chores.

Finally, around the time that the lawnmower in the front lawn grew to be obnoxiously loud, Conan and Nancy decided it was time to go back home.

They closed the front gate behind them.

"You said that originally she offered you medicine for seizures, right?" Nancy said.

"Yeah."

"So why'd you think she was growing marijuana?"

"Remember, marijuana high in THC can also be high in CBD, so sometimes the illegal product that you smoke to get high can also be used for more benign purposes. But it's illegal nonetheless. One thing still bothers me, though."

"And what's that?"

"Takanori Hasunuma, the great Yokozuna, retired from professional sumo two years ago, reportedly after suffering the disgrace of losing a bout against a woman."

"And what part of that is disgraceful?" Nancy asked indignantly.

"Women have traditionally been barred from the world of sumo," Conan said. "Even a woman who's governor of the local prefecture isn't allowed to touch the ring during tournaments. Anyways, if those rumors are true..."

"What, you think Namiki-sensei was the woman who beat him?" Nancy asked.

"Well, I mean, she's certainly big enough, physically speaking. And good technique can make up for a slight size disadvantage."

*pop*

"What was that?" Nancy said.

Instead of answering, Conan ran straight back towards the stable.

Twenty seconds later, they made it to the front gate and swung it open.

One of the sumo wrestlers was still on the lawn mower.

They ran up to him and began loudly asking him about the sound.

He stopped what he was doing, pushed a button on his phone, and took his headphones off.

"Yes?"

"Mister, just now, did you hear something?"

"Uh, no, just my music. I usually have it cranked up really loud, so I wouldn't hear if a-"

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

Conan and the sumo wrestler ran towards the source of the sound, which was the shed.

Nancy had fallen over backwards in shock over the sight:

One of the wrestlers lay dead on the floor.

 **Ending**

( _Hoshi Monogatari_ by Egoist)

I know you've taken this from my cold dead fingertips

I wrote this to tell you what I never had the nerve to say

Because I know that right now, you're punishing yourself

Because you of all people deserve to know the whole story

Once I was only a child, but I was old enough to understand

Something important was missing, though I didn't know what

I wandered in the dark, calling to the crowd, "Excuse me, sirs!"

"Somebody, anybody, please, tell me what I'm doing wrong!"

Finally, on the starry night of Tanabata, I looked out my window

And said, "Kami-sama, if you could let me have a friend, just one.

One who's true and faithful, and funny, but most of all spirited.

This one thing I ask, and I'll never ask for anything ever again."

And then I met you, and in what seemed like an eternity I had

The chance to know you, and for the first time I was really happy

It never ended, you see, that initial bliss: it grew, as we grew closer

Thank you, my one and dearest friend, for teaching me how to love

 **Next Conan's Hint: Suppression**


	2. Chapter 2

They closed the front gate behind them.

"You said that originally she offered you medicine for seizures, right?" Nancy said.

"Yeah."

"So why'd you think she was growing marijuana?"

"Remember, marijuana high in THC can also be high in CBD, so sometimes the illegal product that you smoke to get high can also be used for more benign purposes. But it's illegal nonetheless. One thing still bothers me, though."

"And what's that?"

"Takanori Hasunuma, the great Yokozuna, retired from professional sumo two years ago, reportedly after suffering the disgrace of losing a bout against a woman."

"And what part of that is disgraceful?" Nancy asked indignantly.

"Women have traditionally been barred from the world of sumo," Conan said. "Even a woman who's governor of the local prefecture isn't allowed to touch the ring during tournaments. Anyways, if those rumors are true..."

"What, you think Namiki-sensei was the woman who beat him?" Nancy asked.

"Well, I mean, she's certainly big enough, physically speaking. And good technique can make up for a slight size disadvantage."

*pop*

"What was that?" Nancy said.

Instead of answering, Conan ran straight back towards the stable.

Twenty seconds later, they made it to the front gate and swung it open.

One of the sumo wrestlers was still on the lawn mower.

They ran up to him and began loudly asking him about the sound.

He stopped what he was doing, pushed a button on his phone, and took his headphones off.

"Yes?"

"Mister, just now, did you hear something?"

"Uh, no, just my music. I usually have it cranked up really loud, so I wouldn't hear if a-"

"AAAAAAAHHHH!"

Conan and the sumo wrestler ran towards the source of the sound, which was the shed.

Nancy had fallen over backwards in shock over the sight:

One of the wrestlers lay dead on the floor.

 **Opening**

(Cup of Trembling by B'z)

(Each fresh breath of life is a fresh chance to start anew! A sudden trip to the nurse's office at Teitan Elementary piques my curiosity! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is...DETECTIVE CONAN!)

Above all, I'm afraid of you seeing me like this

The youthful vigor sapped from my bones

Too afraid to proceed, too afraid to turn back

A wretch, recoiling from my own shadow

Wallowing in self-pity like a pig wallowing in its crap

I can't check my phone, lest you might try to call

I can't live at home, lest you might try to visit

All I have left is the clothes on my back and

That dreaded bottle, whose contents I dare not drink

Oh I'm going nowhere, a pinwheel spinning in circles

This Cup of Trembling I now raise to my lips and swallow

So I may face the demons haunting my restless nights

I can't show my face to you until I can call myself a man

Until I've walked a full moon carrying my cross

 **Silence on the Stable Grounds! Part Two!**

The police came, yada yada.

The victim was Tatewaki Mizunokoji, age 19. Of the five wrestlers, he was ranked 2nd in terms of seniority. The coroner on-scene believed his death to be caused by blunt trauma to the abdomen, which caused massive internal bleeding and cardiac arrest. No puncture wound was found; it was believed that he was struck in the stomach with a sudden and overwhelming force.

Nancy Akechi was determined to be the first discoverer of the body. As children, both she and Conan Edogawa were immediately ruled out as murder suspects.

The wrestler on the lawnmower was Shutaro Kuno, age 21, ranking 3rd in seniority at Musabetsu Kakuto Stable. He reported having been at the lawnmower consistently since he started it up. Mizunokoji had entered the shed shortly before Kuno started the lawnmower. Kuno reported seeing nobody going to or from the shed after that point, though admittedly he hadn't been paying a whole lot of attention.

"...I see," Megure said. "So you use this shed to grow industrial hemp, from which you extract an oil that has significant medicinal properties."

Namiki nodded. "You can check the plants if you want. They're not marijuana."

"We're not accusing you or anyone else of anything at this point, ma'am," Megure said. "So, can someone please tell me why the victim was in the shed in the first place?"

"He was probably tending to the plants," Namiki said. "There's a daily rotating schedule for the household chores, but Tatewaki-kun usually just ends up doing that. Since he's so handy, I'll admit that I haven't really had to be in here a lot."

"Rotating chores schedule?" Megure repeated.

"Yes," Kuno said, clad in a medium blue kimono. "Today was my day to mow the lawn, and I think today was Tatewaki's day to tend to the plants."

"Though, I guess schedule didn't really matter for him," Ataru Saotome, age 21, the most senior wrestler, clad in a grass green kimono, said. "He had a bit of a green thumb, so he frequently volunteered for plant duty. Of course, on occasion we'd stick him with some of the dirtier work that he otherwise managed to avoid."

"Oh? And what were you doing?" Megure asked.

"I was inside cleaning the windows and mirrors, and dusting," Saotome said. "I suppose I don't really have much of an alibi, considering that sometimes I was in remote parts of the house by myself, so I guess I could've snuck out a window or something. But then again, I think Shutaro would've seen me, provided he wasn't slacking off or whatnot."

Kuno growled. "Hey, at least I don't hog everyone's lunch portions for myself, like some kind of bloated whale!"

"It's not my fault you eat like a little girl!" Saotome countered. "Outsizing your opponent is half the battle in sumo, remember?"

"You wanna take this outdoors, huh punk?!" Kuno roared.

"HEY! Knock it off, you two!" Takanori ordered. "Inspector, I must apologize for their behavior. Shutaro-kun's been bitter ever since Ataru-kun passed him up in ranking and seniority after the last tournament our stable took part in."

"Passed me up? Bulls**t!" Kuno said. "He poisoned me! I know he did!"

Saotome shook his head. "How disgraceful. Shutaro, even after all this time you refuse to own up to the fact that you were slacking off around then?"

"I wasn't either!" Kuno said. "I trained as hard as I always did!"

"Well maybe that was the probl-

Namiki had grabbed both of their ears and pulled sharply.

"We're not gonna tell you two again," she said.

"Sorry, sensei," Saotome and Kuno said in unison.

 **Scene Transition**

The remaining two wrestlers, Yotsuya Moroboshi (18) and Genma Fujinami (18), had an alibi: they were both scrubbing the floor of the dojo. However, they had the door to the dojo closed during the ordeal, so nobody saw them while they were doing it.

By this time, everyone had gone to the kitchen area to talk.

"So, um, could you tell us about this place?" Megure asked. "Like how it was founded. Anything that might help the investigation."

"Well, um, two years ago I retired from professional sumo and set about founding this place," Takanori said. "I immediately approached Iroha...uh, that is, Namiki-san, and asked her to be my partner in this endeavor."

"Hmm?" Megure asked. "Why her?"

"Let's just say I owed it to her," Hasunuma said.

So Namiki-sensei was the woman who beat him, Conan thought.

"Of course, founding a stable required a lot of money," Takanori said. "I had a good bit of money saved up as a former Yokozuna, but not that much. Fortunately, I had a fan club in America. Some of its members were quite wealthy. They pooled their money together and I was able to open this place as a result of their efforts."

"We didn't even have to go find construction workers," Namiki said. "Our patrons went out and arranged the contract for this stable's construction ahead of time. They even sent us some equipment and power tools to use, straight from America."

"So about five months ago we as a stable went abroad and paid our clients a visit," Takanori said. "They even paid for our trip."

"I'll admit, though, we didn't exactly conduct ourselves in the most wholesome way," Saotome said. "Shutaro stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon and took a whizz. Yotsuya and Genma disappeared from our hotel room in Denver one night and didn't return until the next morning. They were off drinking or something, I'll bet."

"And how about you, huh?" Kuno retorted. "You weren't such an angel either. Didn't we catch you touching the walls in that cave in Arkansas? And then you tried to pocket a broken off fragment of one of those cave formations, no less."

Saotome chuckled nervously. "Oh yeah. I guess...I guess that Tatewaki was the only one of us who behaved himself during the trip."

"Yeah," Kuno said. "Being a physician's son and all, I always thought he was mister goody two shoes."

"And now he's gone," Genma said.

"Yeah, and murdered, no less," Yotsuya said. "Who could've done such a thing?"

"Yeah, I wonder," Saotome said sarcastically, glaring at Kuno.

Kuno stood up angrily. "First you steal my title and now you accuse me of murder?! I will not just sit here and let you slander my good name like that!"

"But what's there to slander?" Yotsuya said. "It was no big secret that you used to treat Tatewaki like a dog, back when you held seniority here."

"Besides, given the circumstances it seems like Shutaro's just about the only one who could've done it," Genma said.

Conan was listening, trying to process all the subtle clues contained within this conversation...

And then he realized that Nancy was missing.

 **Scene Transition**

Nancy opened the door to the shed and went inside again; by this time the body had been removed, and the forensics officers had already come and done their thing, or at least for now. So she was alone. She began to examine the plants closely when...

"I doubt anything like that would've gotten past him."

Conan was standing there.

"Geez, don't scare me like that!" she said.

"At any rate, they could only get whatever was leftover, so I don't think that what little much they couldn't harvested would've helped them in the first place."

"You knew what I was thinking?" Nancy said.

"Yeah. I toyed with the same theory, for about five seconds. But in the end, there's no merit to it."

Nancy took her fingers off of the plants. "Okay then. I figure right that you've got it all solved?"

"Almost, but not quite yet," Conan said. "As was pointed out, how could That Person have gotten to and from the shed without being spotted?"

"The mower was wearing headphones, right?" Nancy said.

"Yeah, that's how he didn't hear the loud noise resulting from the murder. They were up really loud, apparently. Slightly over the pain threshold, even. According to him, it was American death metal that he was listening too. However, that shouldn't have prevented him from seeing the culprit passing by."

"Well, I mean, maybe he wasn't just listening to music," Nancy said. "People can get really caught up in their phones."

"While he was pushing the lawn mowe-

He stepped dead in his tracks.

"What? You got something?" Nancy asked.

"Maybe. Just let me go confirm it."

Conan ran back inside.

"Ah, Conan-kun," Megure said. "You're still here? Would you like me to assign an officer to bring you home?"

"Umm, that's quite all right," Conan said. "We have money for bus fare. Hey, Shutaro-san, there's something I need to ask you."

"Hmm?"

Conan motioned with his hand as to say "Bend Down", and Kuno grudgingly complied.

Conan whispered something in his ear.

"...Yeah, that's exactly what happened," Kuno said.

"And now you two, Genma-san and Yotsuya-san," Conan said.

They bent down, and he whispered something in their ears.

"Um, well, no," Genma said.

"That wasn't really on our minds as we were cleaning the dojo floor," Yotsuya said. "I mean, we didn't think anybody would take them from where we left them in our room. And later on I got mine from where I left it, so..."

Conan ran off again, without warning.

"That boy's always in a hurry," Megure muttered.

Megure turned to Kuno. "I'm sorry if there's some mistake, but the way things are now, I don't see how anybody but you could've done it. Please come with us to the...huh?"

His phone was ringing. And he knew: he recognized that number.

He answered:

"Shinichi?"

 **Scene Transition**

"Hey there inspector," Conan/Shinichi said. "Conan told me everything that happened. And I think I've solved this case. Could you put me on loudspeaker, please?"

Megure did that.

"Namiki-sensei," Shinichi said. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," she answered.

"If I recall correctly, you said that your American patrons had sent you some tools to help with the building."

"Yes, that's right," she said.

"Did that include a nail gun?"

"Um, yes, I think so," Namiki said.

"Did it come with a core?"

"Hmm, let me think about that one second," she said. "Come to think of it, no. It didn't."

"Interesting," Conan/Shinichi said.

"How is that relevant?" Hasunuma snapped. "There were no puncture wounds on Tatewaki-kun, and certainly none from a nail piercing his body."

"I'm not saying that a nail did any such thing," Conan/Shinichi said. "Before we continue, will everyone here acknowledge that the sumo ring, and the stable in which practitioners of sumo live and train, are sacred spaces?"

There was a bit of murmuring over that question. And then finally...

"Uhh, sure, I don't think anybody here will argue with that," Saotome said.

"Good," Conan/Shinichi said. "I think you'll find, upon locating and examining the nail gun in question, that its energy source is firearm propellant. The detonation of a blank round provides the power that drives the nail into the wood."

"Yeah, okay," Kuno said. "Are you suggesting one of us killed Tatewaki with a blank round?"

"Actually, yes. Contrary to common misconception, blank cartridges are extremely dangerous to handle, and some people, mainly in the acting industry, have died from someone carelessly wielding a gun with a blank. Though no metal projectile is contained inside it, it nonetheless contains the same explosive material as a regular cartridge does."

"The culprit snuck into the shed, when Tatewaki-kun wasn't expecting him," Conan/Shinichi continued. "He had in his hand the nail gun, loaded with a blank cartridge but no nail. He pressed it to Tatewaki-san's stomach, and then applied pressure so that it sunk into the fat of his belly. Then he fired. All that explosive force could only exit the gun in one spot: where it had sunk into his stomach. So to Tatewaki-san, it must've been akin to having been punched in the abdomen by a gorilla. He didn't stand a chance; his internal organs burst open and he died quickly. There was a reason why he had to sink it in so deep, of course. The standard cartridge type for powder-driven nail guns is .22 caliber rounds. Fired from a long rifle, the sound equals about 130 Decibels. Fired from a handgun, or in this case a nailgun, and the sound's notably louder than that. He picked this day because the lawn would be mowed at that time; however, a typical lawnmower only lets off about 90 Decibels. That wasn't loud enough to suppress the unadulterated sound of gunfire. Fortunately for him, the human body has pretty decent sound insulating qualities; if you think I'm wrong, cover your mouth with your hand and then try talking."

"So what you're saying is...the fat on Tatewaki-kun's body served as a kind of improvised silencer?" Megure asked.

"Spot on, Inspector."

Megure turned to Kuno. "Alright. Looks like your jig's up, Shuta-

"Not so fast, Inspector. Shutaro-san isn't the killer."

"B-but, how did the killer do it then?" Megure demanded.

"The killer borrowed two phones from his colleagues," Conan/Shinichi explained. "Without their permission or knowledge, of course. He snuck out the window, most likely the bathroom window, and snuck around a corner. He used Yotsuya-san's phone to send a text to Shutaro-san, asking him some question that required a good bit of thought to answer, and which required an immediate answer. Shutaro-san stopped what he was doing, looked down at his phone, and texted his answer. In that moment, the killer was able to slip past him, even in broad daylight, and make his way to the shed. After he had killed Tatewaki-san, he had another question ready on Genma-san's phone, and he sent it. Shutaro-san was once again too preoccupied with that matter to notice the killer slipping past him. Well? Am I right...Ataru-san?!"

Yup. Knowing that he was inches from being exposed, Saotome had no choice but to double down and play hardball.

He growled. "Hey look, whoever you think you are, this isn't funny! I didn't kill Tatewaki, end of story! You have no proof of any of this!"

"Oh, but I do," Conan/Shinichi said. "First of all, this is only circumstantial, but you're the only one here wearing a kimono of that color."

Saotome gulped. "Y-yeah? So?"

"It's the same color as grass. Since that surrounding Shutaro-san and his lawnmower was grass, to minimize the chances of him noticing you out of the corner of his eye you wore clothes that matched the terrain you were walking on. Like I said, that's only circumstantial, but I'm confident there's solid evidence against you. First of all, despite the trick you employed to kill Tatewaki-san, there should be some faint traces of gunpowder residue either on your hands, wrists or your clothes. Simply rinsing with water is not enough to erase that piece of evidence, as I suspect you'll find out if you would kindly accompany the police to the station. Secondly, the police should eventually be able to find the nail gun that you used. It should have your fingerprints on it. Hasunuma-sensei, has he ever handled that tool before?"

"I don't see why he would," Takanori said. "None of my students were a part of the construction of this stable."

"And finally, your fingerprints should appear on Genma-san's and Yotsuya-san's phones. And if we check your shoes and clothes we should find fragments of hemp fibers or dirt from the shed, though even after the murder, the most you did was peer into the shed from outside. If I'm wrong, then none of these proofs should appear, and you'll be vindicated. But I don't think I'm wrong."

Saotome fell to his knees. It'd been quite a while since he'd been licked that badly by any opponent, in sumo or in life.

"Now, as I said, this is a sacred space, and I expect the truth," Conan/Shinichi said. "Why did you-

"Hold it, hold it!" Shinichi said, interrupting himself.

Outside the stable grounds, Nancy had abruptly snatched the bowtie and phone from Conan.

"Before that, there's something I wanna know," Nancy/Shinichi said. "You two, Yotsuya and Genma. You conspired at one point to grow marijuana in the shed so that you could give yourselves the munchies, eat more at lunch and dinner, and thus gain more weight quickly. Am I right?"

Genma sighed. "Yeah. When we got wind that we'd be spending time in Denver, capital of Colorado, that state where marijuana's legal, we knew it was too good a chance to pass up."

"It took us the whole night to find someone to sell us a few seeds," Yotsuya said. "But when we got back, we did some research, and were disappointed by how small our yields were gonna be. Besides that, we knew that we couldn't sneak it past Tatewaki, since he dealt with hemp plants pretty much every day and could probably tell the difference right away. So we approached him and asked his permission to go ahead with it."

"Instead, he refused," Genma said. "And he told us that victory in sumo was meaningless if we didn't earn it through perseverance and hard work. His words inspired us."

"Besides, by the time the chankonabe reached us there wouldn't usually be enough for us to pig out," Yotsuya said.

(Author's Note: Chankonabe is the stew eaten in massive quantities by Sumo Wrestlers in order to get fat. It is served with rice, and often washed down with beer.)

They turned to Hasunuma and Namiki and bowed.

"Though we didn't go through with our plan, we apologize for contemplating something illegal and unethical in the first place," Yotsuya said.

"Please forgive us!" Genma said.

On the other end, Nancy had the smuggest look on her face. Conan sullenly snatched the bowtie and phone back from her.

"Now, Ataru-san. Please tell me why you did it."

Saotome sighed. "Shutaro, I think I owe you an apology as well. You know how, during preparation for the last tournament your suddenly lost your appetite and lost weight? That was because I conspired with Tatewaki to mess with you. He was a physician's son, so he knew how to get his hands on appetite-suppressant medication. During workouts, when we all stopped for water breaks, Tatewaki and I slipped it in your drink."

Kuno, his longstanding suspicions now having been confirmed, wasn't sure how to respond.

"Back in the day, you were really cruel to Tatewaki," Saotome said. "And he resented you for that. I was second ranked here, ambitious, hoping to pass you up and become too dog. So he and I made a deal. We would make you weak, and then, when I assumed your former spot I would protect him from mistreatment. But, that rotten backstabber...he started spiking my water too!"

"What?!" Yotsuya exclaimed. "Why would he do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Saotome retorted. "I was all that stood between him and the top spot at this stable."

"Have you ever actually seen him doing it?" Conan/Shinichi asked.

"I didn't need to!" Saotome said. "I can tell! About a week ago, my appetite just went kaput! It's all because of him! I know it!"

"And was loss of appetite the only symptom you've experienced lately?" Conan/Shinichi asked.

"Well, no," Saotome admitted. "I've been burping a lot, my poop's darker than normal, and I've been vomiting blood from time to time."

Namiki grabbed him by the shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me?! That sounds a lot like symptoms of stomach cancer!"

Stomach...cancer? Saotome thought.

He began shaking, and before long he was crying.

Conan hung up and sighed. "This one left a bitter taste in my mouth. Come on, let's go home."

"I'll race you to the bus stop," Nancy said.

Before Conan could react she took off running.

He took a deep breath and ran to catch up.

 **Ending**

( _Hoshi Monogatari_ by Egoist)

I know you've taken this from my cold dead fingertips

I wrote this to tell you what I never had the nerve to say

Because I know that right now, you're punishing yourself

Because you of all people deserve to know the whole story

Once I was only a child, but I was old enough to understand

Something important was missing, though I didn't know what

I wandered in the dark, calling to the crowd, "Excuse me, sirs!"

"Somebody, anybody, please, tell me what I'm doing wrong!"

Finally, on the starry night of Tanabata, I looked out my window

And said, "Kami-sama, if you could let me have a friend, just one.

One who's true and faithful, and funny, but most of all spirited.

This one thing I ask, and I'll never ask for anything ever again."

And then I met you, and in what seemed like an eternity I had

The chance to know you, and for the first time I was really happy

It never ended, you see, that initial bliss: it grew, as we grew closer

Thank you, my one and dearest friend, for teaching me how to love

 **The Next Day**

Led by Kuno, the three remaining wrestlers tended to their early morning training, while Hasunuma and Namiki sat in the dining room and drank tea.

"Namiki-sa...no, Iroha, I've got something to say to you," Hasunuma said.

Somehow sensing what was about to come, Iroha Namiki began blushing.

"I've been thinking about what that young detective said, about this being a sacred place, where we should strive to be truthful. And I think it's about time I came clean to you. Two years ago, you really helped me out. After that severe injury on the ring, I'd come to rely way too heavily on painkillers. And it was your hemp oil that allowed me to break free of that."

"I only wish that I hadn't asked for anything in return," she said.

"No, you did what any hardcore fan of Sumo would do in that situation. You wanted a chance to fight a Yokozuna. And the truth is...the truth is, you didn't hurt my pride then. I...I was impressed, very impressed. Iroha, if you were born a man you could've become a Sumo legend. But because you were born a woman, the highest authorities of this sport automatically regard you as being unworthy to even touch the ring. Sure, losing to you stung more than a little at first, but about three days after our bout I realized what I had to do. If you were unworthy, then so I was I. So you see, it wasn't because you upsetted me by winning, and I'm sorry if I ever gave you that impression."

"...Yeah, I know," Iroha said, averting her gaze. "And I appreciate it, that you've given me this amazing opportunity to coach the next generation of Sumo Wrestlers, even if ultimately this batch proved to be full of bad eggs."

"I respect you totally. But to say that, well, it doesn't convey the whole range of emotions that I...feel for you. Iroha, I...I...I...I...!"

"Just shut up and kiss me," Iroha said.

She grabbed him and kissed him on the lips.

By this time, the three wrestlers had stopped what they were doing and were watching the spectacle through a slightly cracked door.

His nerves both excited and calmed, Hasunuma reached into his pocket and took out a small box. He opened it to reveal a gold ring.

He stood on one knee, and in that moment he proposed to her. Iroha happily accepted. And then, the dojo burst into cheering and clapping.

 **Scene Transition**

The pier overlooked Tokyo Bay. Of course, at nighttime one couldn't see much, but there was a nice breeze, at least.

She saw the light from the car which then came to a stop. Then she heard the slamming of the car door.

About a minute later, Iroha walked onto the dock and stood next to her friend, leaning against the wooden railing.

There was a pause, and then:

"The human race sucks," Yoko said. "Human nature is smothered out by society, jobs, work and school. Instincts are deleted by laws. I see people say things that contradict themselves, or people that don't take any advantage of the gift of human life. They waste their minds on memorizing the stats of every college basketball player or how many words should be in a report when they should be using their brains for more important things. The human race isn't worth fighting for anymore."

"And you believe that?" Iroha asked.

Yoko grinned. "All of it, save his conclusion."

"He?"

"A restless, violent soul, forced to live in a cage, forced to smile and repeat the same old lies that most people have actually come to believe in. His pent-up anger was expressed in words, put on paper, in his private diaries. Unfortunately, he neither knew nor sought a remedy for the ills of our society. All he knew how to do was lash out, and that he did. In America, this person's was a household name a mere 20 years ago, though since then he's been eclipsed by others like him."

There was another pause.

"Hello, Iroha. It's been too long."

"Yes. Three years, was it?"

"Two years and eight months. So, I hear you're gonna be married?"

"Yup. After two years of waiting, I finally had him propose today...But you didn't call me here to catch up on the latest gossip, did you?"

"No. Iroha, I have...a favor to ask."

 **End of Episode**


End file.
